Shall we disclaim? Oh, yes, lets. I don't own or have any claims to any of TWD characters, etc. and make no gains, monetary or otherwise, blah blah blah. I do, however, claim to own a few of the action figures and I do whatever I WANT with them...and I do.

Chapter 14

Aliya, Daryl and T-Dog stopped at a series of over a dozen little towns and hamlets in their attempt to find guns and ammunition. It was an uneventful trip, to say the least. They managed to find several military assault rifles in a couple of abandoned Humvees on a road outside of Rayburn and a small gunsmith's shop about 20 miles south of there that apparently no one remembered about because it hadn't been looted. After they took care of the owner, who was milling around the store missing a hand and most of his other arm, they cleaned out the place and damn near filled the back of the Hyundai. Daryl said it was like Halloween when you went to the one house that gave out full-size candy bars instead of the little baby ones.

The saw a lot of walkers in groups now, more so than solitary walkers. They took out a lot of them in the smaller groups and moved on before they could get in too much trouble. T-Dog compared it to bubbles in a glass of beer. "You know, at first there's individual bubbles and then they start rising together making larger and larger bubbles. Same with walkers. Now they're clumping together, too"

"You drink beer in a glass?" Daryl scoffed. He looked at Aliya and winked.

"Pussy!" they both said loudly, laughing more that they'd said the same thing at the same time than at the jab at T-Dog, who just flipped Daryl off and sat back, huffing and crossing his arms over his chest.

Now it as morning. They were on their way back, half a day's drive back to the camp. T-Dog was snoring in the back seat, head back, mouth open, the deep, restful sleep of a man who is feeling secure, or at least safer than usual.

Daryl looked at Aliya. She was leaning her head against the passenger-side window, eyes watching the road, a look of worry knitting her brow slightly.

Her feet were curled under her in the seat. She looked like a little girl in her too-big, army-fatigue-green wool sweater that she'd thrown on to offset the chilly morning air. They'd spent the night on the second floor loft of a tiny A-frame house they'd found right before sunset. It was cold this morning and she'd rummaged through a dresser drawer to find the heavy sweater.

Her head moved slightly towards him and their eyes met. "Better watch that road, there, Bub." she said quietly. Daryl frowned and bobbed his head slightly in disapproval.

"Drive better 'n you." he said indignantly.

"You do most things better than me." she said, her slight smile leaving her face. She started to say something and then hesitated, exhaling with frustration.

"What?" Daryl asked, cocking his head sideways.

"I threatened to kill Merle yesterday." she said softly.

"So?"

"I was serious."

"What stopped you?" One corner of Daryl's mouth was curled up in bemusement.

"You, I guess." Aliya shrugged.

" Ya' know, he ain't gonna' consider ya' family 'till ya've actually tried ta' do it least once." he half-teased. He knew that Merle had the utmost respect for Aliya, no matter how he acted. The fact that she was his girlfriend was not that big of a deal for Merle. Being a Henderson garnered Aliya a lot of swagger in Merle's mind.

Aliya rolled her eyes. "How do you do it? How do you deal with him without losing your mind?"

"Just get used ta' it, guess." Daryl said, looking down quickly and then back at the road, dodging a fox that skittered across in front of the suv. "Ya' just can't let him get to ya'. He is what he is."

"He's gonna crash and burn, you know that, don't you?" she said looking out the window, not wanting to look into Daryl's eyes. "I just don't want..." her voice trailed off and the silence hung like smoke in the air. Daryl looked at her, shrugging his shoulders with a raised flat palm, arching his eyebrows. "I just don't want you to go down with him." she said quietly.

"Ain't happened yet." he frowned, keeping his eyes glued on the road. So many things had happened in his life because of Merle, so many unpleasant, downright bad things, and yet, deep down he knew that it was dealing with that shit that was what helped him survive now. What made him strong, careful. She knew it too. She'd been through her own shit as well.

"I just want to go off somewhere. By ourselves. Get away from everybody else. I'm tired of everything, Daryl." Aliya sighed. "I'm tired of being scared, of being worried about what other people think. I'm tired of trying to get along with everybody. I just want...to run away from everything."

Daryl turned and looked at her. She had her head back and her eyes closed, a small tear barely visible as it tried to escape from the corner of her closed lid. He reached over and put a hand on her knee. "Me too." he said in a barely audible whisper.

XXXXX

Bridgette brushed her hair and looked in the bathroom mirror one more time. The bruises she'd given herself with the back of the wooden hairbrush and the self-inflicted black eye weren't healing very fast. She knew she looked horrible, right down to the ugly fingernail scratches on her arms, but it had to be done. It was exactly the look she was going for. She stopped and looked distractedly at the water in the sink, thinking to the exchange with Shane when she'd finally made her appearance. He seemed concerned, shocked, genuinely upset. She was hoping it would work. She needed him to start wanting to protect her, to start thinking of hers as, well, his.

She changed her top to a short-sleeved t-shirt so that the scratches on her arms were more visible and walked downstairs slowly, gingerly taking one step at a time. Shane was standing in the kitchen with a glass of water in his hand, leaning against the counter top. She walked to him and lowered her self into a chair.

"Bridgette. Are you, uh, feeling any better?"

"I'm fine. A little sore, but that's all. I'll be fine." she tried to force a smile.

"You know, if you need to talk, Andrea's a good listener, I mean, I'm sure you don't want to talk about things to a...a..guy." he said.

"I don't want to talk about anything. I'm fine. I just think now that he's out of here," she said, stopping mid-sentence and swallowing dramatically, "I'll be ok. It's over." she started to well up and put her head down on the counter. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't cry." she croaked, the sobs coming easily.

"Hey, hey, it's ok. It's ok to cry. Don't be ashamed, you went through something awful." Shane moved to the bar and gingerly put his arms around Bridgette. She moved hers around his waist tightly and buried her face in his chest, sobbing quietly.

"I just feel horrible. Ugly. Oh, Shane, it was awful." she said between sobs. Shane continued to hold Bridgette for several minutes, rubbing her arm and back slowly and stroking her hair. Bridgette continued to cling to him, holding him close. She let go and pulled away slightly, rubbing her eyes. "It's just that, I don't think that now..." she said, looking downwards, "now no decent man will want me." she whispered.

"Don't think like that." Shane said. "You have to put it behind you and move on. Don't let it change how you feel about yourself." he said, frowning.

"Guys don't think like that, Shane. They don't want something...dirty. Used. Would you? Would you want me knowing what you do?" Bridgette moved closer to Shane. "Would you, Shane?" she said looking straight into his eyes.

The dark-haired man swallowed and blinked without saying a word. Shane found himself not knowing what to say to a woman, for once. He wasn't sure what the appropriate answer was. He'd always thought of her as hot, but now wasn't the exact time he figured good to show her he was interested. He stumbled a bit on his words, "Well, yeah, of course, I, ah, hell yes. Any man would. But I think this is a conversation for another time." Shane rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, uncomfortable as hell.

Bridgette smiled. "Thank you." she said, nodding. "I know you're just saying that, but thank you." She leaned in close and kissed his cheek softly. "I really wish you weren't just being nice." she said, inches from his face.

Shane took a small half-step back and turned his head slightly. "Ok then. I, uhm, I need to go check on something." he said quickly, looking around quickly. "I'll see you later." turning towards the door to exit as fast as he could.

XXXXX

Aliya rounded the back corner of the abandoned convenience store and felt a hand reach out, spin her around and move her towards the building's buff-colored brick wall. The tall man in the dark pants and shirt pushed her against the wall roughly and pinned her shoulders flat as he pressed into her, his mouth covering hers, muffling her scream. He kissed her forcefully, his hands wandering up and down, groping her everywhere until she was able to make him step back with a hard shove against his chest.

"Jesus Christ, Daryl, you scared the shit out of me. Don't fuckin' do that!" Aliya said loudly, leaning her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "Damn it!" she panted. "What's Dog doing?"

"Still siphonin'." he smiled broadly. "We got time." he said, moving towards her again.

"No, we don't." she stood upright and grinned. Aliya put her hands on her hips. "We definitely do NOT have time for that." she said, as she slapped his hand away.

"Stop yakin' we would."

"Cut it out. I'm serious."

"Serious too." Daryl said pushing her against the wall again, this time gently. "C'mon."

"Daryl, our asses would literally be exposed. Anybody could come along. T-Dog could see us. A walker..." Daryl's mouth on hers cut the words off abruptly. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him back hard, opening her mouth so his tongue could move in. They spent a couple minutes like that, Aliya opening one eye now and then to make sure nothing was walking up on them. She could tell that they were quickly approaching the point where neither of them would be able to stop. It had been a couple days at least and she found herself wondering if just maybe they could pull it off but then quickly chastised herself for entertaining the thought of risking life and limb for a quick one. She closed her eyes one last time and returned to the moment at hand, feeling Daryl's strong hands closing and opening on her waist, his tongue dipping and rolling against hers, his breathing become heavier.

"Aw, shit." An embarrassed voice from behind them said. "All ready." T-Dog called, turning his back to them when he saw them. He turned around and started walking quickly along the side of the building, towards the gas pumps out in front.

Daryl pulled away from him and grinned at Aliya, letting loose of her and turning back towards the other man. "Yeah, me too." he said, as Aliya blushed and attempted to straighten the baggy green sweater. Daryl turned around and walked backwards, still grinning. Aliya raised a hand to flip him off but stopped in her tracks, her mouth open but no sound coming out.

On the road in front of the convenience store were about four dozen walkers. T-dog had frozen when he'd seen them, as had Daryl the minute he turned away from Aliya and spotted them himself. Only a handful were looking in their direction, most of them were focused ahead towards the road. They were protected somewhat by the fact that they were on the side of the building and not directly out front in the horde's line of sight. Daryl looked back at Aliya and then towards the Hyundai, which was parked about 50 yards away, in front of the pumps. If they ran for their vehicle they would actually be running towards the walkers. If they stayed there, the walkers that had seen them would for sure move towards them and attract the attention of the rest of the horde.

Daryl started to walk backwards slowly. T-Dog, who had been standing silently, turned and walked quietly towards the building as well. Daryl grabbed Aliya's arm and pulled her around as he passed, moving them both along the side of the building and around the corner to the back of the store, out of sight of most of the walkers except the ones who'd noticed them and started to follow. His steps quickened and he pushed her hard in front of him. "Fuckin' RUN!" he croaked. "Now. Into them woods!"